Apparatus for the roller stamping of thin sheets, especially starting sheets for electrolytic production of copper

ABSTRACT

Apparatus for the roller stamping of thin sheets, especially starting sheets for electrolytic production of copper. One or more endless bands are disposed for advancing the sheet between the stamping rollers when the sheet is to be stamped. When plural bands are used, they are alternately radially offset.

United States Patent 11 1 1111 3,886,778

Wennberg June 3, 1975 [54] APPARATUS FOR THE ROLLER STAMPING 2,266,41812/1941 Evans 72/205 X F THIN SHEETS, ESPECIALLY STARTING 2,506,1825/1950 Toubhans 72/181 X SHEETS FOR ELECTROLYTIC 2,605,810 8/1952Rlchardson 72/180 2,708,958 5/1955 Crafton 72/180 PRODUCTION OF COPPER2,987,988 6/1961 Roblendano 100/121 x 7 Inventor; 01 Carl Gustavwennberg 16, 3,559,438 2/1971 Rouyer et al. 72/160 c p du v ChasseurBruxenesa 3,680,342 Mott 61 a1. Belgium [22] Filed: June 18, 1973Primary Examiner-Milton S. Mehr [211 App] No 370 622 Attorney, Agent, orFirm-Young & Thompson Foreign Application Priority Data June 19, 1972Sweden 8056/72 ABSTRACT [52] US. Cl 72/180; /151 Apparatus for theroller stamping of thin sheets, espe- [51] Int. Cl B21d 5/16 ciallystarting sheets for electrol tic reduction of y P [58] Field of Search72/ 180, 177, 161, 176, copper. One or more endless bands are disposedfor 72/220 advancing the sheet between the stamping rollers when thesheet is to be stamped. When plural bands [56] References Cited areused, they are alternately radially offset.

UNITED STATES PATENTS 815,710 3/1906 Johnson 72/ 3 Claims, 6 DrawingFigures PMEW JUH3 l9 HEB 75 3,888,778

FIG.1

FIG. 2

PATENTEDJUNS I875 SHEET FIG. 3

FIGS

APPARATUS FOR THE ROLLER STAMPING OF THIN SHEETS, ESPECIALLY STARTINGSHEETS FOR ELECTROLYTIC PRODUCTION OF COPPER Electrolytic refining of,for example. copper is done in cells, in which raw copper is dissolvedin the electro lyte and pure copper is precipitated on the cathode unit,the major portion of which consists of a thin sheet of pure copper. Suchthin sheets, usually 1 mm thick, constitute the active portion ofso-called starting sheets for the electrolytic refining. Starting sheetsusually have a relatively large surface area, 1 m relative to thethickness and are therefore fragile and must be handled with great care.so that they do not buckle or bend in such a way as to become unusablein the electrolytic cells.

The present invention relates to a device, which makes it possible towork starting sheets so that they have an increased rigidity and are notso fragile. The device can be used not only for starting sheets but alsofor other thin sheets which need to be made more rigid so that they canbe handled Without losing their generally plane form.

It is known to stamp starting sheets while being pressed in hydraulicpresses, giving the plates at reinforcing pattern, and this method hasalso been used in connection with the preceding alignment of the sheet.However, the method is relatively time-consuming and the insertion intoand extraction from the hydraulic press involves difficulties.

The present invention avoids these disadvantages with a device which ischaracterized in that the stamping is done by stamping rollers, one ormore endless bands being disposed for feeding in of the sheet betweenthe stamping rollers when the sheet is to be stamped. In the presentdevice the apparatus can itself carry out the advancing of the sheetsthereby significantly facilitating the process. The endless bands canthemselves effect the advancing, but it can also be done by the stampingrollers and the bands working in conjunction. It is possible to let theendless band extend merely over one of two stamping rollers disposed towork in conjunction with one another, but one can instead use twoendless bands which run over individual stamping rollers, designed towork in conjunction, the stamping being done by means of the bands.

As a rule it is advantageous to arrange two or more pairs of stampingrollers disposed to work in conjunction, one after another, so that thesheet during advancement by means of the band or bands passes with itsfront edge first between a pair of rollers and then between anotherpair. which completes the stamping or continues it. The width of theendless band can be essentially equal to the effective length of astamping roller and the bands and rollers can be so disposed that thesheet is advanced and stamped in contact with the band on one side andwith an opposing stamping roller on the other. It is also possible todivide up the band into a number of sub-bands whose combined width isessen tially the same as the effective length of the stamping roller,every other sub-band running over one of a pair of stamping rollers,disposed to work in conjunction with one another, and the other bandrunning over the other roller in a pair. A simple stamping pattern is obtained, if each stamping roller in a pair is constructed with parts withdifferent diameters. so that there are two groups of roller members withthe same diameter within each group but with the groups ha\ing mutuallydifferent diameters, the sub-bands running over those roller memberswhich have the smallest diameter.

Furthermore, it is possible in the same apparatus to arrange alignmentrollers over which the band or hands also run. so that the sheet isfirst advanced between these alignment rollers and is aligned and isthen advanced to the stamping rollers.

Examples of the use of the invention are shown in the accompanyingdrawings which relate to an embodiment with several pairs of stampingrollers with alignment rollers mounted in the same apparatus. FIG. Ishows the apparatus viewed from above, FIG. 2 is a vertical projection,viewed from below in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a vertical cross section alongthe line 3--3 in FIG. 2 and FIG. 4 is a view which reveals on a largerscale how the rollers and bands work in conjunction with each other.FIG. 5 shows how a sheet being handled in the apparatus can look whenviewed from its front edge when being advanced, and FIG. 6 is acorresponding plane view.

The apparatus shown in the drawing comprises a frame, consisting ofapair of frame posts 10 and 12 and upper and lower horizontal journallingbeams 14, 16 and 18, 20 respectively extending between said frame postsand intermediate beams 22,24. Said intermediate beams 22,24 are alsodisposed in pairs on top of one another. The journalling beams 14,16 and18,20 carry end bearings for a number of parallel rollers, namely threepairs of stamping rollers 26,28; 30,32 and 34,36, five alignmentrollers, specifically three lower alignment rollers 38 and two upper 40,the latter being placed next to the space between the three lowerrollers 38. In addition to said rollers there is a pair of feedinrollers 42,44 of the same size and shape as the stamping rollers butdisposed at a somewhat greater distance from one another than thestamping rollers.

All of the rollers except for the alignment rollers are placed in pairsbut with one of the rollers in the pair according to the drawing placedabove the other, so that one can imagine an upper and lower row ofrollers, in which the upper row contains the feed-in roller 42 and thestamping rollers 26,30 and 34 and the lower row contains the feed-inroller 44 and the stamping rollers 28,32 and 36; cf. FIG. 3. A number ofendless subbands 46 run over the rollers in the upper row and a numberof endless sub-bands 48 run over the rollers of the lower row. They arecalled sub-bands in this connection because each band group 46 and 48can be replaced by a single band, whose width is equal to the entireeffective length of the stamping roller. Each stamping roller in a pair26,28; 30,32; 34,36 is constructed with parts 52,54 with differentdiameters, so that there are two groups of roller members 52 with equaldiameters within each group but with different diameters between thegroups. The sub-bands 46,48 run over these roller members which have thesmallest diameter.

As is shown in the drawing the outermost rollers 42,34 and 44,36respectively serve as turning rollers for the different sub-bands 46 and48 respectively. The thicker roller member 42 on a stamping roller liesnext to a smaller member 54 on the other stamping roller in the pair andthe plate during stamping will therefore lie with one ofits sidesagainst a sub-band on the narrower roller member and the thicker member.free from the band. on the opposing stamping roller.

All of the lower stamping rollers 28,32,36 are driven from a drive motor60 over chain or belt driven devices 62 (indicated schematically whilethe upper stamping rollers 26,30,34 are driven from axles of the lowerstamping rollers over gears or the like.

A sheet which is to be aligned and stamped is shown with its frontportion 66 to the left in FIG. 3 and is introduced between thoseportions of the endless bands 46,48 which run over the feedin rollers42,44. The sheet is caught here by the portions of the endless bandswhich face one another and is advanced by them first between thealignment rollers 38,40 where any strains are removed and it is madelevel, and then between the subsequent pairs of stamping rollers 26,28;30,32 and 34,36 respectively. From the stamping rollers the sheetobtains successive elevations 68 and depressions 70 as well asintermediate bevellings 72 as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. Although thepattern thus obtained is easy to achieve, other stamping patterns can beobtained simply by changing the shape of the stamping rollers.

The bands should be made of non-rigid material, e.g. rubber, since oneof their main tasks is to compensate, during the advancing of the thinsheets, for variations in thickness and uneveness in the surface of theplates. so that the advancement is even, among other things. i.e. thefront and rear edges of the sheet are moved parallel without sidemovement during advancement. As an example it could be mentioned thatthe starting sheet of the type intended here normally has a thickness of0.7-1.0 mm but that variations can occur be- Lil LII

tween 0.5 and 1.5mm. These variations and the unevenness in the surface,if only hard metal rollers were used. could cause significant problemsand make it more difficult or even impossible to achieve an effectivestamping of the sheet.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for corrugating thin sheets. comprising a pair of opposedcontoured rollers each of which has a plurality of cylindrical portionsthereon of alternately large and small diameter that register withrespective portions of alternately small and large diameter on the othersaid roller, a plurality of endless bands passing about said rollers,alternate bands passing about said small portions of one said roller,the remaining bands passing about said small portions of the other saidroller, said bands having a length substantially greater than theperiphery of said rollers and a width about equal to the axial length ofthe said small portions about which they pass, and further rollershaving axes parallel to said stamping rollers and about which theremaining portions of said bands are trained.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, there being a plurality of saidrollers in the direction of movement of a said sheet, whereby a firstsaid roller effects a portion of the corrugation of the sheet and afurther said roller continues the corrugation of the sheet.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, and alignment rollers for aligningsaid sheets before the sheets pass be tween said contoured rollers.

l l l

1. APPARATUS FOR CORRUGATING THIN SHEETS, COMPRISING A PAIR OF OPPOSEDCONTOURED ROLLERS EACH OF WHICH HAS A PLURALITY OF CYLINDRICAL PORTIONSTHEREON OF ALTERNATELY LARGE AND SMALL DIAMETER THAT REGISTER WITHRESPECTIVE PORTIONS OF ALTERNATELY SMALL AND LARGE DIAMETER ON THE OTHERSAID ROLLER, A PLURALITY OF ENDLESS BANDS PASSING ABOUT SAID ROLLERS,ALTERNATE BANDS PASSING ABOUT SAID SMALL PORTIONS OF ONE SAID ROLLER,THE REMAINING BANDS PASSING ABOUT SAID SMALL PORTIONS OF THE OTHER SAIDROLLER, SAID BANDS HAVING A LENGTH SUBSTANTIALLY GREATER THAN THEPERIPHERY OF SAID ROLLERS AND A WIDTH ABOUT WHICH THEY PASS, AND LENGTHOF THE SAID SMALL PORTIONS ABOUT WHICH THEY PASS, AND FURTHER ROLLERSHAVING AXES PARALLEL TO SAID STAMPING ROLLERS AND ABOUT WHICH THEREMAINING PORTIONS OF SAID BANDS ARE TRAINED.
 1. Apparatus forcorrugating thin sheets, comprising a pair of opposed contoured rollerseach of which has a plurality of cylindrical portions thereon ofalternately large and small diameter that register with respectiveportions of alternately small and large diameter on the other saidroller, a plurality of endless bands passing about said rollers,alternate bands passing about said small portions of one said roller,the remaining bands passing about said small portions of the other saidroller, said bands having a length substantially greater than theperiphery of said rollers and a width about equal to the axial length ofthe said small portions about which they pass, and further rollershaving axes parallel to said stamping rollers and about which theremaining portions of said bands are trained.
 2. Apparatus as claimed inclaim 1, there being a plurality of said rollers in the direction ofmovement of a said sheet, whereby a first said roller effects a portionof the corrugation of the sheet and a further said roller continues thecorrugation of the sheet.